One person is dead after a fire ripped through a two-story house in Fairfax County, Virginia, Wednesday morning, though two good Samaritans rushed to try to save the victim.
Firefighters responded to the two-alarm fire on the 7200 block of Beverly Park Drive in the Springfield section of the county at about 11:30 a.m., Battalion Chief Willie Bailey said at the scene.
When they arrived, they found a raging fire consuming both floors of the house.
“They had heavy fire showing from the front of the structure, from the first and second floor of the structure,” Bailey said. “They made an aggressive attack inside the home.”
Two men working on a house nearby said they rushed to the house before firefighters arrived. Steven Lopez, one of the men, said he saw the flames and rushed to help. He said he saw a man.
The workers grabbed a ladder from their truck and leaned it against the burning house. They said the man went to a porch but then went back inside. The workers made it up to the porch but had to turn around because the flames were too intense.
"I climbed up all the way to the porch, and that's when I felt the heat and the smoke, and I got back down," Lopez said.
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Firefighters put out the fire in about 15 minutes and then found one deceased person inside.
Neighbors told News4 the victim was a longtime resident in his 70s.
Video from the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department showed the charred remains of the house, and firefighters dousing parts of the building.
The fire devastated the house and caused damage to a neighboring home. The cause is under investigation.
